Chapter 26 Caleb
Caleb
Twenty minutes later, we pulled up to the back gate of the Henderson job and found the gate open and the camera above it dark. After I got out and shimmied up to get a good look, the long fuse on my temper got a lot shorter. “Someone covered the camera with a black trash bag,” I told Emma grimly.
Emma’s expression tightened, but she didn’t say anything as I drove around to the front, before stopping at the bottom of the driveway to check the front camera.
Also covered with a black trash bag.
I called Tucker. “Someone covered the cameras. I need the footage from just before the cameras went down; we had to have caught whoever did this on video.”
“I was just about to call you,” Tucker said. “I pulled the footage. We heard an engine, possibly a truck, but the only thing the camera registered was a bright light, then nothing but black.”
“What the fuck.”
“That’s what I said. I’m five minutes out. Wait for me to go through the property with you.”
Emma waited until I slid my phone back in my pocket.
“Last year, there was a break-in on a job I’d helped design.
The firm I worked for had cameras placed around the property because there was a lot of expensive equipment on-site and their insurance company insisted on surveillance.
A hundred-thousand-dollar reach lift was stolen right under the noses of the cameras.
The thieves had discovered that a superpowerful LED flashlight could disable a security camera long enough for them to walk right up to it and spray-paint the lens without being seen. ”
I stared at her, then pulled her in for a quick, hard smacking kiss on the lips. “Thank you.”
She looked dazed. “For…?”
“For being brilliant.”
I pulled up the circular drive and parked behind Emma’s car, barely catching her hand, stopping her before she could slide out of the truck.
I gently tugged until she faced me. An hour ago, she’d pulled a condom from her bag—which had been just about the sexiest thing anyone had ever done for me.
Half an hour ago, I’d melted her into a puddle of sated woman.
Somewhere between that riverbank and here, she’d put herself back together far easier than I had, and I had no idea what to make of that. I gently tugged on her hand until she looked at me. Her eyes were a little wide, and filled with…anxiety.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Of course.” Pulling free, she hopped out of the truck.
I followed suit, and we stood there under the stars, staring at each other.
“Let me know what you find out,” she said softly, making a show of looking for her keys in her bag.
“I will.” I stepped close, dipping my head to hold her gaze. “Em, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“It’s something.” I slid my hands in my pockets rather than reach for her again because everything about her body language said she was uncomfortable—the very last thing I wanted her to be. “You know you can tell me anything, right? Did I—”
“No.” She shook her head, adamant. “It’s not you.”
“You sure? Because if I did something you didn’t like, or hurt you—”
“No.” She bit her lip, but a hint of a smile curved her mouth. “I think you know just how much I enjoyed myself tonight.”
Relief was a balm, and I shifted a little closer. “I’ll never be able to go to the river again without getting a hard-on. You riding me on that beach is my new favorite fantasy.”
A startled laugh escaped her. “Mine too.”
“I’d like to talk about it in graphic detail, slowly and thoroughly, but that’ll have to wait. Before you go home and I go investigate, talk to me. What’s wrong?”
A sigh shuddered out of her. “I’m not good at this. I don’t—” She waved a hand helplessly, and I wrapped my fingers around it and gently squeezed. She stared down at our entwined fingers. “It’s been a long time for me, Caleb. I’ve forgotten how to do the whole awkward ‘after’ thing.”
Everything inside me that had tightened at her clear anxiety loosened again. This—this I understood. “Same.”
She rolled her eyes.
“It’s true,” I said. “And it doesn’t have to be awkward. Not between us. No matter what happens.”
“Even if…we don’t do it again?”
The thought pained me, but it was her call.
“Even if. The ball’s in your court, Em. Always.
” I wanted to kiss her to remind her what we’d shared.
I didn’t want her to walk away and leave it like this between us.
So I gestured to the manor. “I’ve got to call Ry and the police, and check out the property to see if anything’s been tampered with—”
“I know, it’s okay—”
“Come with me.”
“You need an extra set of eyes?”
If that’s what would get her to stay… “That would be great.”
She nodded, and I leaned in to give her a kiss. Just a sweet, short kiss to seal the deal…just as a Colburn Restorations truck pulled up the drive. Tucker slid out, raising a brow at the sight of us.
***
Emma
Tucker aimed a charming, charismatic Colburn smile my way, the one that could render a person speechless from a hundred paces. It didn’t hurt that he had a tall, lean, athletic build to him and an air of barely leashed Trouble with a capital T.
“Sorry to interrupt your evening,” he said and turned to Caleb. “Ry’s at dinner with Penny in Sonoma. I told him to stay put, that we have it under control.”
The two brothers then exchanged a look; Tucker’s seemed to be saying, You’re welcome.
“We need to do a walk-through to see if anything’s missing,” I said. “We had that expensive tile drop on Friday.”
“For all we know, whoever messed with the cameras is still here, hiding out.” Tucker eyed the dark manor.
“Or squatting, maybe,” Caleb said. “There have been several times I’ve had the feeling someone had been here overnight.”
I sucked in an involuntary breath.
Caleb glanced at me, eyes sharp. “You okay?”
“Fine. Totally fine.”
Caleb looked around. “I don’t care what Henderson says—we need more cameras, both interior and exterior, and out of reach and hard to access. I don’t want any of our employees in danger if they come in early or work late alone.”
“Agreed,” Tucker said as his phone went off, and when he looked at the screen, he swore and gave Caleb an apologetic look. “Search and rescue call.”
“Go,” Caleb said. “I’ve got this.” He turned to me when Tucker took off. “Let’s go through the manor first.”
I nodded, and even though I knew I hadn’t left anything behind, that it was all in my car, my nerves bubbled. “Let’s go.”
Something flared in his eyes—something that should have scared me but didn’t.
***
Caleb
We didn’t find anything of interest in the basement or the three floors, including our staging area for tools and material drops. We stood at the third-floor landing, and I didn’t know about Emma, but I was vibrating with tension.
“Should we go back down?”
“One last place to check.” I started up the ladder to the attic access.
“Wait—what’s up there that you’d be worried about?”
“Nothing, just being thorough.” I opened the access door, then ducked to maneuver inside, reaching back for Emma.
She hesitated, then climbed in after me. “Looks okay to me,” she said from the door.
I turned to find her wearing her armor-against-the-world smile, her I’m all good smile. The only smile I’d ever seen those years in college.
The fake one.
I craned my neck to take in the room. What about this place was unsettling her? I hadn’t been up here since the storm. There’d been some dust then, an air of neglect.
But there was no dust now.
I moved to the far side of the room for a different perspective, slowly shining my flashlight over the entire space until it caught on something shiny under the bed, caught between two slats of the wood flooring.
I glanced over at Emma, but she’d moved to the window and stood with arms crossed, looking out into the night.
Crouching low, I stared at the familiar gold necklace with two little sapphires, which I’d seen before.
Around Emma’s neck.